Offshore Oil and Geopolitical Realignments in the Caribbean Basin: Evidence from Guyana and Venezuela

This article examines how offshore oil discoveries in undelimited submarine areas between Venezuela and Guyana reconfigured geopolitical alignments in the Caribbean Basin and altered the management of a territorial dispute. The study integrates three analytical frameworks: first, the geopolitics of energy and the expansion of supermajors toward new “blue frontiers,” as theorized by Yergin and Klare; second, the securitization of territorial disputes and energy infrastructure, as developed by Buzan and Wæver; and third, a chronological process tracing the analysis of diplomatic statements, regulatory frameworks, concession contracts, and production data. Oil discoveries and extraction in undelimited areas disrupted dependency matrices and regional oil geopolitics dynamics, while simultaneously fostering the internationalization of the Guayana Esequiba dispute (hereinafter the Essequibo), securitizing the issue and reshaping foreign policy agenda priorities, factors that contributed to the referral of the case to the International Court of Justice. The article argues that the combination of energy potential, securitizing narratives, and acts of geoeconomic territorialization of the continental shelf produced geostrategic realignments among the United States, China, and other actors, consolidating patterns of protection-for-oil over disputed land and maritime boundaries. The article contributes to debates on energy and security in Latin America and offers implications for marine governance, energy policy, and conflict prevention in contexts of unresolved boundary disputes.